On a course for the TT specialists, who will launch their career with rainbow glory? – World Championships junior men's time trial contenders

The 2026 UCI Road World Championships are well underway with the first medals and jerseys already handed out in Montreal, Canada as the age-group time trials kicked off the competition over the weekend.

For this year's junior men's time trial, taking place on Tuesday, the riders will take on a 20.3km version of the course the elites covered on Sunday.

Starting with the same technical opening descent, the race runs south, alongside the St Lawrence River, before turning 180 degrees and retracing its wheel tracks. This final includes the uphill closing 5km all the TTs are covering, including the steep uphill kick to the line, making a course which suits the all-round time trial specialist.

With last year's winner Michiel Mouris (Netherlands) and second-placed Ashlin Barry (United States) both moving up to the under-23 ranks in 2026, third-placed Seff Van Kerckhove would have started as one of the favourites. However, the Belgian is out of both the TT and road race after being hit by a driver while out training, making the race more open.

Vic De Smet (Belgium)

With Van Kerckhove out of this year's championships after being hit by a driver while training in Montreal, Belgium's hopes fall on Vic De Smet.

De Smet joined the Soudal-QuickStep Under 19 team for this year and has already tasted success with a consistent stream of top 10 finishes in what has been a busy season for the 17-year-old.

Importantly, some of that success has been against the clock, with victory at stage 2a of the Boucles de l’Oise over a pan flat 15km course and a number stop five places. He was second behind Van Kerckhove at the Junior Nationals in May as well, so is well equipped for Montreal.

Patrik Pezzo Rosola (Italy)

Multi-discipline rider Patrik Pezzo Rosola already has a championship medal to his name, taking silver at the European Cyclo-cross Championships last autumn, but since then he’s been going well on the road.

He’s worked hard on his time trialing skills, starting the year with a national level race victory, but more importantly tasting success in the Nations Cup, winning stage 2a of Lago Le Bandie-Pieve Del Grappa. Decent uphill, he’ll cope well with the finish.

Julius Løvstrup Birkedal (Denmark)

The current Danish junior time trial champion, Julius Løvstrup Birkedal is a specialist against the clock and lines up for Tuesday's race after some solid preparation.

Denmark didn't send a junior men's team to the Road World Championships last year, but at the Europeans Birkedal finished third, just 27 seconds behind rainbow jersey winner Michiel Mouris.

This year he's kicked on with a series of top performances against the clock including in the Junior Nations Cup.

He completed his Worlds prep at the Green Mountains Stage Race in the US, winning the opening day TT as well as the final road stage.

Ones to watch

• Niklas Wiesmayr (Austria) – The national champion has been flying against the clock but is yet to take a win of any kind outside Austria
• Alex Botha (New Zealand) – Another national champion, Botha is a regular top 5 finisher recently taking 4th in a US race
• Vanja Kuntarič (Slovenia) – Has built his TT form throughout the season, with a win and second place in the last six weeks
• Kash Adamski (United States) – Questionable recent form, but has European TT wins to his name this year, as well as the US title
• Leon Atkins (Great Britain) – Much more than a TT specialist, though he has four wins against the clock this year

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